News

The Big North is just three weeks away.

We’ve added Oozing Wound to the lineup and this is the beer list.

Subject to change and additions are likely, plus this year there will be SLUSHEES. Don't miss your chance to drink all the Half Acre beers in one place.. limited in volume, some of these may never be seen again.

This April we celebrate a decade of Daisy Cutter Pale Ale. 10 years is a long time to do anything and we're honored that this beer of ours continues to ring the bell.

Flagship beers have been losing favor in the landscape for a while now. There's a culture of singular, chase-focused experience in beer and while we're here for that, we want to believe that there's room for both.

Long term sensory experiences create time capsules that connect your former self to you current and future selves. Daisy Cutter and beers like it are a connecting thread in your existence. Pass these liquids through your receptors and flood your senses with personal history.

We're celebrating this milestone in a pretty big way. Daisy Cutter packaging (12 and 16oz) has been redesigned to denote the 10 Year Anniversary and in April we'll be hosting a DECADES party at our brewery and at bars throughout Chicago and the country. Details will flow out as we get closer to the date, but throw 4/19 + 4/20 on you calendar. See the most recent updates here.

Daisy Cutter Pale Ale and Pony Pilsner got the treatment ~ our flagship pale and our stalwart Pils. Some distribution will occur over the weekend with more to come the following week and forever. No better way to feel like a giant then to drink a beer in 16oz format for a decade and then grab hold of its 12oz little brother.

The world of brewing has become harder to get your arms around, so we wanted to lay out how you should be thinking about Half Acre in year 2019.

We are a brewer with two breweries, Lincoln & Balmoral. Each focus on their own end of what we do. We are not big, we are not small. We are invested in the past. We are invested in the future.

We are a proud distributing brewer that works to technically and efficiently brew high caliber beer that’s designed to leave our brewery.We believe that beer should be accessible, relatively affordable and shared in this way.

We are also an ambitious direct-to-customer brewer. Our shop on Lincoln was one of the first of its kind and our ability to connect directly with beer drinkers continues to be instrumental in who we are and what we brew.We make certain beers in small volumes and work to protect the idea that primitive sophistication offers its own magic.These beers are less efficient, more expensive to make and inherently more intimate.

We care about time honored beers and brewing. Classic IPA, Mixed Culture Wilds, Pilsner, Stout, Lager, Pale Ale, Mild, Golden, Brown….These beers will exist in our lineups inside our walls and out in the world. They are cultural ingredients that serve as an ideal backdrop for communal exchange. They are the keys to our collective sensory history.We’ll be supporting them with language and effort that’s more clearly aimed at their intent.

We care about and are making a new investment in future forward brewing.The boundaries of personal perception and the threshold of impact is expanding.From here on out, if we say that we’re ‘releasing’ a beer, then it was brewed with the intention of enlarging sensory experience.Nothing in the middle — just pushing for the edges.

We operate two tap room restaurants that offer the most diverse lists of beer we make, choice foods and environments reflective of Half Acre.These spaces exist to be the most immersive experience you can have with our brewing company.

Half Acre as a culture of humans respects one another, considers integrity as a benchmark for success and appreciates your interest in what we make.

2019 should be a great trip around the sphere of hot plasma in the sky.

ROUND TWO: MARCH 27TH

Teams consist of two people and must submit $20 to compete.Both team members will get their first pint of core beer on us and we’ll serve $5 beers for the rest of the night.

First twelve teams to sign up are in. Form below for entry:

SOLD OUT

Our brewery on Lincoln avenue has been hosting unofficial foosball tournaments for a while now, and our staff has developed some frightening skill. Come join us for an evening of foos on Thursday, January 24th and see if you can win.

Teams consist of two people and must submit $20 to compete.Both team members will get their first pint of core beer on us and we’ll serve $5 beers for the rest of the night.

SOLD OUT.

Sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of this page for early info next round.

Every year we’ve brewed this beer looking to strike the cushy spot between strong and comfortable, an Imperial Drinking Stout, built for true consumption.

The label provides a journey through all the friends and foes our fair kitten has met through the years, do you recognize them all? We look forward to celebrating with all of those who have traversed this trail with us.

NEW THIS YEAR:

we’re hosting Big Hugs at our Balmoral brewery. It’s a big day, and we have a big space, so come fill it up.

we canned the variantsVanilla in 4packs, Bourbon Barrel Aged in 2 packs, more info below.

There will be merch for your outsides, food and drink for your insides, Dark Matter Coffee, good feels and snacks. We look forward to this event every year, and hope you feel the same.

RELEASE DAY DETAILS:

release day: 12/02/17 at 11am

location: Balmoral Avenue brewery, 2050 W. Balmoral

BIG HUGS IMPERIAL COFFEE STOUT

4pk 16oz cans: $19.99

limit 3 per person

no growler / howlers

10oz pour $6

This year we chose a single coffee variety - Santa Petrona, bourbon, washed. It's from El Salvador. Dark Matter extracted it multiple ways - espresso shots (a coordinated effort across all of their locations to simultaneously pull enough shots at each location to fill a 1/6 bbl with espresso), french press, pour-over, and more. The coffee is brewed at super concentrated levels so the beer dilution is minimal upon its addition. We added the liquid at a total volume of 3% by volume of beer. Then, for the first time, we infused the beer on whole roasted beans of the same variety in our infuser.

Vanilla Big Hugs is brewed for those with the sweet lean. The same base beer as original Big Hugs, the liquid coffee added was brewed in the style of Dark Matter's "Vanilla Suburbs" iced coffee, which has vanilla and cocoa added with the coffee grounds when it is extracted. We then conditioned the beer on madagascar vanilla beans. The woody-sweet of vanilla presents itself upon the cracking of the can, while the drinking experience is well integrated and smooth.

BOURBON BARREL AGED BIG HUGS IMPERIAL COFFEE STOUT

2pk 16oz cans: $19.99

limit 3 per person

no growler / howlers

10oz pour $11

Bourbon Barrel Aged Big Hugs, is in our opinion, in its finest form here in year three. The Big Hugs base recipe is tweaked to stand up to its time in wood, richer overall, with bigger mouthfeel and body, it's Hugs at its core and something altogether different at the same time. Aged 9 months in freshly emptied Willett bourbon barrels, we then added liquid coffee and infused the beer with whole bean coffee. For the liquid coffee Dark Matter conditioned green coffee beans in barrel-aged Hugs after it came out of the barrels. Then they roasted the coffee and extracted it into liquid that we added BACK into the beer. Cyclical ouroboros extraction theory.

THE WHOLE ENCHILADA

THE WHOLE ENCHILADA

The Whole Enchilada, the presale option for Big Hugs and its variants, is back. On Wednesday, November 28th at 11am we will make a set amount of Big Hugs available online. For $190 (tax inclusive, ticket site fee NOT included) you can guarantee yourself:

You will be invited to pick up your full allotment on release day (12/2) from our shop on Lincoln, between the hours of 11am-10pm.

If you do not pick up your allotment on 12/2, you can get it from our shop on Lincoln 11am-10pm 12/4-12/9. Do not try to get them on Monday 12/3, we'll be closed.

If you do not pick up your allotment by 3pm on December 9th you will forfeit it to the hungry beasts that make our science cheese.

There will be no refunds and no exceptions. Please read all of the fine print on the ticket website before your purchase. This is for pre-sale only, if you want a beanie, a tee shirt, or anything not included in the pre-sale, you may have to wait in a line at Balmoral on release day. While you can drink Big Hugs and its variants on draft, there will not be any additional packaged (to-go) Big Hugs (or variants, or merch) located at Lincoln on 12/2.

PROXIES ARE NOT PERMITTED. By PROXIES, we mean you cannot pay and have someone else pick up for you. You must personally pick up and show a valid ID at time of pick up to verify age & identity.

We have a great time with you at the Big Hugs release, and being at Balmoral this year we hope it’s more comfortable and joyous than ever, but we realize that not everyone feels the same way. If you elect to acquire your lot via The Whole Enchilada, please consider dropping by anyway, for a sample of a one-off beer, or complimentary sweet treat.

Featuring a deep list of today’s most prized out-of-state brewers from around the US and beyond, many of which don’t sell beer in Chicago, a few winemakers, too.

Tickets get you a 10oz glass and all the experience you can pack inside of it. Whether you’re buried in the beer scene, just dabble or simply want to spend an afternoon in an awesome location drinking incredible liquids from the finest producers — it’s just a few weeks away and this experience is not to miss.

This year we're showing every World Cup game that starts at or after 8am in our tap room on Balmoral. We'll play the games with the sound on and serve coffee and pastries until our kitchen opens (on days that our kitchen opens).

Plus, if you email (hello@halfacrebeer.com) your bracket to us before the opening ceremony on Thursday, we'll buy you a pint when you watch your first game with us. When it's all over, we'll draw 3 brackets with the highest points to win specialty Half Acre swag.

The beer industry has long been layered in the party business. Here at Half Acre, making and selling beer has always been about the properties of experience good beer elevates.

And while we know you're out there curating your own stellar time, every once in a while we like to roll out the carpet and invite you into our version.

Now there are mountains of beer events year round that gorge themselves in the summer and pop all over your free time. We thought we'd briefly outline for you what we have coming down the line, with more details to come as they creep closer.

ILLINOIS CRAFT BEER WEEK

To be honest, pretty much every week is craft beer week for us, and we're guessing it is for you too, but that doesn't mean we can't choose collectively to really cram it in there.

Then on Friday, at both our breweries, you'll find a double beer release, wyld tap takeover, and $1 off all our available core beers. We'll also have the garage door open at Lincoln Avenue with snacks and the beer garden ready for you at Balmoral, with a Dakota full of cans.

Saturday, August 18th

Our third annual The Big North. This party is about showing all of those who support us the widest view of our landscape. We concoct a bunch of new beers, pull favorites from the cooler, book bands we like to dance to, and expand our weirdest edges to fold you in. Held at our facility on Balmoral, year one was about showing you the production space, in year two we unveiled the tap room, and this year we'll share how it all works together in the pursuit of our duality.

Saturday, October 13th

In October of this year, we'll be hosting an invitational creative gathering downtown. Inspired by our own travels and festival experience, we've invited brewers (and a handful of wine makers) who are located outside of Illinois to come experience the abundant energy and vibrant humans Chicago has to offer.

We appreciate the time you spend with us, whether it be in our tap rooms on a Thursday or at a blowout event, and hope to see you this summer.

This year we decided to pursue a different iteration of Daisy Cutter.... Daisy Capra.

All Daisy forms are a pulpit for hop evangelism, but it’s the malt profile that places Daisy. In an era of increasing malt transparency, the presence of barley impact, and specifically Daisy’s, gives it its tie back to the time and place of its origin.

But while the grist remains eternal, we pursued a totally new hop blend, based around the grigio-esque, raspberry and cantaloupe of Enigma. Citra, Ekuanot, Centennial and CTZ cut the rest of its tones, a dense and tropical edible arrangement.

Daisy Capra will be released at our brewery locations on Friday, March 2nd in 4packs of 16oz cans. It will see full distribution the following week, hitting trusted beer vendors throughout Illinois, New York City, Philadelphia, and portions of Wisconsin.

At Half Acre we refer to our breweries as Lincoln & Balmoral. A basic and trusted way to delineate between our two homes. On September 9th we’ll open our Balmoral Tap Room & Garden.

Opening our Balmoral brewery to guests is a giant moment for our brewery. Without a destination where people could come to experience this brewery, it never would’ve felt complete.The vision for this tap room stems from our experience at Lincoln. We appreciate all the elements that make that space feel full on a daily basis.

For Balmoral, we hope to share something different, but similar. While Lincoln is more intimate, we hope Balmoral to be more accommodating to larger groups, families, and experiential flexibility. We’ll be doing another post on the food and beer program, but we’re taking the opportunity to treat this menu as a unique offering.

The Garden, while just a corner in our parking lot, is a place all of us at Half Acre already gravitate towards when sinking beers. Like Lincoln, Balmoral will highlight our aesthetic interests and investment in the practice of hospitality. The majority of its architectural elements were built right here in our woodshop, we commissioned the artwork, and generally made it feel like Half Acre. We look forward to having you and further colliding our collective universe..

At Half Acre we’re making a small but meaningful change in how beer leaves our brewery. We’ve always, and continue to, place freshness as a pivotal gatekeeper to positive experience.Our clean recipes — ones intentionally free of wild yeast and bacteria — are built to celebrate beer in its youth. Our lab team works hard to ensure that those beers are microbiologically sound by testing them throughout their lifecycle at our brewery.

We’ve increased the complexity of that program to now include a three-day hold on all beer leaving our brewery. That time allows for additional assurance that once you’ve invested your resources in our beer, we’re delivering you pure, sound brewing outcome. So, if you’re tracking pack dates — understand that it stayed under our optimal (bone cold) supervision for a touch longer.

We've experimented with bacteria and wild yeast since the early days, but it wasn't until we opened our second brewery two years ago that we were able to begin the kind of wild program we wanted for Half Acre.

The second facility allowed us to decrease brewing at our original brewery and transform the room that used to house our canning line into the Wyld Cove, an isolated area with temperature control, dedicated equipment and time spent.

The aim for this program is to be very selective and work without the functional constraints placed on the rest of our brewing volume - to methodically allow creative themes to naturally develop over time.

On April 28th, the first beer from this program will be available in our shop and tap room.

Magick is Purple was initially brewed into stainless steel in February of 2016. It was then passed into oak red wine barrels and inoculated with a blend of wild yeasts and bacteria. In November of that year, selected barrels were blended to balance overall acidity and yeast character. In February of 2017 it was bottled for a final conditioning process.It's copper in color and carries notes of bread, hay, berry and cherry.

About a quarter of the bottles being released have labels that were hand painted by Gabriel, one of Half Acre's co-creators. You can expect the first 500+ bottles to be treated this way.

These beers represent an additional space for the creative minds in our brewery. Allowing us to continually engage the process of making beer.